Originally named Decoration Day, Memorial Day originated shortly after the start of the Civil War in 1861 when genteel ladies in Virginia decided they wanted to decorate the graves of those who wore Confederate grey. After the war, a Union general called in 1868 for a national Decoration Day to honor all of the reunited nation’s Civil War dead.
By the 1920s, it was more commonly known as Memorial Day and was extended to honor all American service members who died in defense of our country.
In 1967 it was officially declared Memorial Day by federal law, and in 1968, when Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, Memorial Day moved from its traditional date of May 30 to the last Monday in May, thereby creating the three day-weekend we have come to look forward to as the official kick off to summer and the super-sales event of the year.
Why the info? Well, for one thing, the holiday is this Monday, and secondly, at the dinner table the other night the topic of why Memorial Day was such a busy shopping day came up and my daughter asked, “What does a couch [she works for Bob’s], or anything else on sale, have to do with honoring service members?”
Leave it to my daughter to ask the tough questions.
The sad part is that the holiday which originated to honor our fallen soldiers who died in defense of our country has morphed into a bacchanalian feast of barbecued hotdogs, drinking a cold one, and going shopping for those fabulous deals. As if this country doesn’t already have enough consumerism to deal with.
So I decided since we can’t take the consumer out of the American, the least we can do is to fork over a few sheckles to a worthy cause that directly helps the members of our armed forces and their families.
Not for Nuthin™, but if you really feel the need to hear the ka-ching of cash going out of your pocket, and the barbecue is not enough — you can make a donation to any of the following foundations. They are top rated (I checked www.charitynavigator.org) and each provides invaluable assistance to our service men and women:
The Armed Forces Foundation, Semper Fi Fund, and Puppies Behind Bars (which teaches prison inmates how to train service dogs for wounded war veterans and explosive-detection dogs for law enforcement).
Just a little goes a long way to honor those men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice so we can enjoy our sales, parades, and hotdogs in peace and freedom.
Happy Memorial Day.
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